Creating safe and enabling learning environments is not only essential for achieving educational outcomes – it is also a fundamental right of every child.
Violence is a daily reality for many children in Sierra Leone – at school, at home and in their communities. Nearly 9 out of 10 children aged 1-14 years in Sierra Leone have experienced some form of violent discipline in the household during the past month according to a 2017 Sierra Leone Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey. At school and on often long, unsafe commutes, learners face corporal punishment, bullying, sexual and gender-based violence, and abuse.
Over the past five years, Sierra Leone has taken great strides to advocate for and provide safe learning environments for all learners.
Sierra Leone endorsed the Safe to Learn Call to Action in 2019 at the Education World Forum, and more recently undertook a Safe To Learn Benchmarking assessment to track progress towards implementing this commitment. In 2024, Sierra Leone became one of two pilot countries (alongside Nepal) in the Global Partnership for Education Safe to Learn Technical Assistance Initiative (TAI) on Safe Learning. This initiative aims to strengthen national capacity to prevent and respond to violence in and around schools, recognizing Sierra Leone’s political leadership in this space.
Sierra Leone’s journey: Progress and innovation
Despite significant challenges in realizing the full spectrum of children’s rights, Sierra Leone’s progress between 2019 and 2023 – as reflected in the benchmarking assessment – is very encouraging and offers valuable insights and inspiration for other countries navigating similar challenges.
The benchmarking assessment translated the Safe to Learn Call to Action into a set of measurable indicators, which the Government of Sierra Leone – working in collaboration with the Safe to Learn Secretariat, UNICEF and partners – used to assess progress in ensuring safe and enabling learning environments from 2019 to 2023. This exercise allowed documentation of where the country stands in relation to the implementation of the Call to Action, establishing national baselines across five key components: laws and policies; strengthening violence prevention and response at the school level; shifting social and gender norms and behaviour change; effective use of resources; and evidence generation and use.
The results clearly demonstrate that the country has taken significant action to end violence in, around, and through schools. At the national level, this includes:
- The Education Sector Plan 2022–2026 and the Comprehensive School Safety Policy (2023) which embed violence prevention and response as core priorities.
- The Basic and Senior Secondary Education Act (2023) which explicitly prohibits corporal punishment in schools.
- The revised National Referral Protocol on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (2024) which defines the roles of education stakeholders in responding to incidents of violence.
At the school level, Sierra Leone has strengthened child protection and safeguarding mechanisms. Some schools offer psychosocial support and have integrated violence prevention into their curricula. The country continues to demonstrate its commitment to systemic change by establishing school safety committees, creating anti-violence clubs, and training over 26,000 teachers on positive discipline and a Code of Conduct.
Efforts to shift social norms are also gaining momentum. Community engagement strategies such as the national School-Related Gender-Based Violence Social and Behaviour Change Communication Strategy and the active involvement of youth, parents, teachers, and volunteer community members in violence prevention initiatives are helping to foster a culture of safety and respect.
The country is also leveraging data and evidence to inform its strategies. Tools like the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System Plus (GBVIMS+), a web-based platform that collects, analyzes, and generates reports on GBV cases to inform both prevention and response, the Child Protection Management Information System Plus (CPMIS+), and national surveys are helping to monitor trends and guide decision-making.
Over the past year, with support from the Global Partnership for Education, Sierra Leone is building on these achievements to strengthen systems that prevent and respond to school-related gender-based violence – through coordinated multi-sectoral action, promotion of social and gender norms supportive of children’s rights, and enhanced case management and referral mechanisms aligned with national policies.
Investing in safe learning
Sierra Leone’s progress has been supported by both domestic and international investments. The Ministry of Finance has taken steps toward gender-responsive and child-friendly budgeting, while development partners including UNICEF, United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI), German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and others have provided critical support for school-related violence prevention programmes.
Looking ahead, sustained and coordinated investments – both domestic and international – will be key to ensuring safe learning environments for all learners and embedding violence prevention across Sierra Leone’s education system. These efforts will not only help ensure that every girl and boy, in all their diversity, can thrive free from violence but also contribute to improved education outcomes – now and for generations to come.
Acknowledgements
This progress review is the result of a collaborative effort between Safe to Learn, UNICEF, the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Ministry of Gender and Children’s Affairs, Ministry of Social Welfare, Teaching Service Commission and other key partners in Sierra Leone.
This blog accompanies the release of the Sierra Leone Safe to Learn Benchmarking Assessment and Progress Report 2019–2023, which documents Sierra Leone’s efforts to prevent and respond to violence in, around, and through schools since endorsing the Safe to Learn Call to Action, and outlines Sierra Leone’s achievements in meeting each of its associated benchmarks.